Drivers vs. Cyclists

In the space of only a week there have been three cases of drivers, two of them under the influence of alcohol or drugs, in one instance both, ploughing into groups of cyclists.

Now, the majority of these kinds of accidents involve male drivers, which is why these three latest accidents, all involving women drivers, have grabbed national attention.

In one case, the driver had hit a cyclists and fled the scene and was then stopped later in the day and found to be drink driving…

Here’s what happened. Three days ago on the 13th of May the Catalan regional police arrested a driver in Riudoms (Tarragona) who had knocked over six cyclists – fortunately only one suffered serious injuries.

The 26-year-old driver, a Colombian national, was four times over the limit, according to the Mossos de Esquadra. The accident took place at 07.15h on the T-704 road, when the car swerved across the road onto the oncoming lane and collided with the ‘surprised’ cyclists.

The police were soon at the scene and after providing First Aid to the injured cyclists, they breathalysed the driver, who, by the way, had only recently passed her test.

A week earlier another woman driver (Sunday 7th) ran into six cyclists in Oliva (Valencia) resulting in the death of three of them.

Then came the latest accident in Navara where two cyclists were knocked down in the municipality of Lizoáin on the NA-150 at 09.16h on the 14th.

The emergency services had received a call out to attend to a 66-year-old cyclist with a broken hip and another companion with slight injuries.

First reports indicate that the driver hit them with the side mirror on her car while she was overtaking two cars.

According to the police, she initially fled the scene but parked in he nearest village and walked back. In her statement she claimed that she hadn’t realised that she had hit the cyclists because she had “probably nodded off” as she had worked all night. She said that she had woken up sharply and realised that she was missing the mirror.

Finally, today, Tuesday the 16th, the Government has announced that it is bringing in a measure that will mean that if a driver is caught drink-driving twice within the space of two years, he/she will automatically lose their licence until a doctor certifies that he is not/is no longer, alcohol-drug dependent.